ERASURE

Organised by : Goodwood Art Foundation

Presented across Goodwood Art Foundations two gallery spaces, ERASURE will bring together three international artists whose work confronts the intertwined destruction of ecological systems and cultural heritage. Through painting, sculpture, installation and moving image, the exhibition deals with prescient themes such as deforestation, cultural extraction and the erasure of histories, inviting visitors to reflect on the steps we can take towards more sustainable and equitable futures.

Laís Amaral, a rising Brazilian artist, will show work which explores environmental collapse, desertification and the erosion of cultural memory, in particular in relation to the Afro-Brazilian communities with which she worked as a social and environmental activist. Many of the paintings will be shown for the first time in this exhibition, marking her debut institutional presentation in Europe.

Amarals mixed-media works combine acrylic, spray paint and ink with elements such as beads and straw. Her signature scraping technique uses unconventional tools such as pick combs, cuticle pushers and eyebrow tweezers, repurposed from personal grooming into instruments of incision and erasure. Her non-figurative approach is further defined by layers of paint that are repeatedly applied and scraped away, revealing textures like grooves, veins and drips.

This work will be presented alongside carved soapstone sculptures - pedra-sabão - by fellow Brazilian artist Solange Pessoa. As one of Brazils most renowned living artists, Pessoa participated in the 2022 Venice Biennale and had a major presentation this summer at Tramway in Glasgow.

Arranged across the gallery floor, Pessoas works evoke the connections between body and landscape, while alluding to histories of extraction and colonial resource exploitation that are relevant to the mining region where she grew up. Reminiscent of runes or cave paintings, they bring a sense of urgency very much in tune with this time of environmental degradation and social and species depletion.

Palestinian Saudi artist Dana Awartani will present I Went Away And Forgot You. A While Ago I Remembered. I Remembered Id Forgotten You. I Was Dreaming (2017), an installation named after a poem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. A geometric floor composition in coloured sand, recalling Islamic tilework and sacred geometries, is paired with a single-channel film of the artist sweeping away the works recreation in an abandoned house in Jeddah that was built in the European architectural style. It is a meditation on cultural destruction and the fragility of the natural world.

Awartani's multicultural background informs much of her work and her long engagement with the craft, history and traditions of the Middle East. In the current political climate, where cities, communities, and historic sites are once again under relentless bombardment, Awartanis work resonates with renewed urgency. It stands as both a plea to protect the ancient civilisations of the Arab world and a celebration of its living traditions: the artistry of handmade craft, the medicinal knowledge of plants and the practice of mending and revering objects.

Alongside these presentations in The Gallery and the Pigott Gallery at Goodwood Art Foundation, a range of outdoor artworks launched for the summer season will remain across the 70-acre landscape, which has been designed to deliver 24 seasonal moments by Dan Pearson Studio. This includes works by Rachel Whiteread, Veronica Ryan, Isamu Noguchi, Susan Philipsz, Rosie Wylie and a selection of ceramic works by Lubna Chowdhary are displayed in the Foundations destination cafe, 24.

Goodwood Art Foundation is a new not-for-profit destination for contemporary art in the UK, that opened in May 2025. Work by the very best international artists show in the galleries and across the 70-acre landscape, which features wooded glades, wildflower meadows and ancient woodland and has been reimagined by landscape designer Dan Pearson.